Anyang

 

(än-yäng) , city (1994 est. pop. 458,400), N Henan prov., China, on the Beijing-Guangzhou RR, in a cotton-growing area. It is an agricultural and trade center with textile mills, coal mines, and a medium-sized iron and steel complex. Anyang was once a capital of the Shang dynasty and one of the earliest centers of Chinese civilization. Excavations, begun there in 1928 by archaeologist Li Chi, have revealed a rich collection of artifacts from the Shang dynasty. Unearthed articles include pottery, oracle bones, stone and jade, chariots, bronzes, and building foundations.

安阳市
Ānyáng Shì

Administration Type	Prefecture-level city
Area	7,355 km²
Population	5.25 million (2002)
GDP	¥21.35 billion (1996)
Major Nationalities	Han
County-level divisions	9
Township-level divisions	Unknown
Area Code	372

Anyang (simplified Chinese: 安阳; traditional Chinese: 安陽; pinyin: Ānyáng) is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, People's Republic of China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively.

Administration

The prefecture-level city of Anyang administers 4 districts, 1 county-level city and 4 counties.

• Beiguan District (北关区)
• Wenfeng District (文峰区)
• Yindu District (殷都区)
• Long'an District (龙安区)
• Linzhou City (林州市)
• Anyang County (安阳县)
• Tangyin County (汤阴县)
• Hua County (滑县)
• Neihuang County (内黄县)

History

Xiaonanhai, on the far western edge of the city, was home to prehistoric cavemen during the Stone Age. Over 7,000 artifacts (including stone tools and animal bone fossils) have been unearthed here representing what has been dubbed the Xiaonanhai culture.^[1]

Around 2000 BCE the legendary sage-kings Zhuanxu and Emperor_Ku are said to have established their capitals in the area around Anyang from where they ruled their kingdom. Their mausoleums are today situated in Sanyang village south of Neihuang County.^[1]

At the beginning of the 14th century B.C.E. King Pangeng of the Shang Dynasty established his capital 2km north of the modern city on the banks of the Huan River. The city, known as Yin, was the first stable capital in Chinese history and from that point on the dynasty that founded it would become known as the Yin Dynasty.

The capital served 12 kings in 8 generations, including Wu Ding under whom the dynasty reached the zenith of its power, until it was wiped out along with the dynasty that founded it by King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty in B.C.E. 1046.

Anyang's Tangyin County was the seat of Yue Village, birth place of the famous Song Dynasty general Yue Fei.

The contemporary Anyang was constructed in 1368 AD during the Ming Dynasty.

Economy

Anyang's opening to the outside world has enabled its foreign economic relations and trade progress rapidly. Sixteen foreign-funded enterprises (joint ventures, cooperative enterprises and wholly foreign-owned enterprises) have been established. Recently, Anyang has established an economic and technological development zone covering a total area of 22.8 square kilometers and issued a series of preferential policies to attract many domestic Chinese and foreign businesses. A multichannel, all-round foreign relations and trade network have been set up to lay a foundation for developing Anyang's economy.

Tourism

Anyang City is an ancient city with a history of over 3,000 years and used to be one of the Seven Ancient Capitals of China. It is one of the key birthplaces of Chinese ancient culture. Here are the primitive caves of 25,000 years ago, the overlapping stratums of the Yangshao Culture, Longshan Culture and Xiaotun Culture, the memorial mausoleums of ancient Emperor Zhuanxu and Emperor Ku over 4,000 years ago, the first library of inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells, the Soul Spring Temple known as the "First Ancient Buddhist Temple in Henan", and 10,000-Buddha Ravine, as well as unique Wenfeng Pagoda, Xiuding Temple Pagoda and Mingfu Temple Pagoda. Anyang has a beautiful natural scenery. There are the Taihang Linlu Hill Scenic Area on the 400-kilometer Taihang Mountains and the grand 1,500-kilometer man-made Red Flag Canal.

Tianning Temple

Tianning Si (Mansion Temple) was established during the Zhou dynasty and has recently been restored by the Protection and Research Institute of Ancient Architecture of Anyang City and opened to the public. Main structures within the temple compound include; the gate house, the 3 room (8.4m x 14m) Hall of the Heavenly King with hanging-eaves over the gables rebuilt in 2002,^[2] the slightly larger (17.8m x 11.65m) Precious Hall of the Great Hero with single-eave gabled roof originally from the Qing dynasty and rebuilt in 2001,^[3] and the Wenfeng Pagoda.

Wenfeng Pagoda

Wenfeng Ta (Literature Peak Pagoda) on the grounds of the Tianning Temple is believed to have been constructed in 925 and is known, from inscriptions concerning the reconstruction of the temple, to have been in place by 952. The current pagoda was constructed during the Ming Dynasty and got its current name during the Qing Dynasty due to its proximity to the Confucian temple. The five-storey dark red brick octagonal tower is 38.65m high and unusually is larger at the top than the bottom and is topped with a 10m Lamaist stupa-style dagoba steeple. The pagoda stands on two-metre-high stone pedestal and is decorated with multi-eave pent roofs and carvings of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. The unique pagoda is the symbol of Anyang.^[1]

Yinxu Museum

Located about 2 km northwest of Anyang are the ruins of the Shang Dynasty capital known as Yin. This massive archaeological site was discovered in 1899, excavated in the decades that followed and first opened to the public in the 1980s as the Garden Museum of Yinxu. The current museum was opened on 16 March 2005 and includes the famous Tomb of Fu Hao. The site is inscribed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

See also

• Historical capitals of China
• Yinxu

Sources, references, external links

• Government website of Anyang (in Simplified Chinese)

Prefecture-level divisions of Henan Prefecture-level cities: Anyang | Hebi | Jiaozuo | Kaifeng | Luohe | Luoyang | Nanyang | Pingdingshan Puyang | Sanmenxia | Shangqiu | Xinxiang | Xinyang | Xuchang | Zhengzhou | Zhoukou | Zhumadian Sub-prefecture-level cities: Jiyuan

List of Henan County-level divisions

Coordinates: 36°06′N 114°20′E / 36.1, 114.333

Donate to Wikimedia